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“Afrofuturism as Creative Empowerment” by Ytasha Womack

Feminist Technics, Queer Machines: Inventing Better Futures was a day-long conference hosted by IGSF in November 2014 as a part of the HTMlles 11: Zer0 Future Festival. The HTMlles is an international platform dedicated to the presentation of women’s, trans and gender non-conforming artists’ independent media artworks in a transdisciplinary environment that strives for anti-oppression. The keynote speaker for the conference was Ytasha Womack. Here, she is introduced by Sophie Le-Phat Ho from HTMlles. After her presentation, tobias c. van Veen facilitates a conversation about her current and future projects.

Tag Archives: Hubcity Blues

Religious Affiliations

a tale of hub city

As I was ushered into the first entry points at the city’s outer wall, I was impressed with the speed and efficiency of the staff as they coordinated everyone’s entry into the city. Security forces maintained control of the entry point but were cordial and civil to everyone. There was very little grumbling in line. Their police uniforms were spartan and crisp and each officer looked well fed and fit, unlike most of the people in line.

While we waited, we were given water and a real fruit, whose origins were unknown but it was pleasant, sweet and much needed after the dusty road. When I reached the front of the line, a young woman appearing to be in her late twenties was scanning my identity card and checking my authorization papers. “Welcome to Hub City sir, do you have anything to declare?…

I am addicted to this series, so I am sharing this particular episode with the hope you will also crave yet another episode. Show Thaddeus some love and subscribe to his short story blog Hubcity Blues!

I help him up and walk him into his study. He is paper-thin, light like a bird, a wisp of the force I remember from my youth. I can feel the fire burning through him, my second sight, even shielded cannot block the visions of his power. I help him to his workbench, a central seat of his gift. It was only as we drew close could I sense it.

The bracelet. It shimmered in darkness the way his power glowed brightly. A cool black metal that flickered like glass, lit from within with a sinister madness. This was my last time to say no.

He sits, his palsy stops when he picks it up. His eyes harden like flint and his unspoken gaze beckons me to sit across from him. The light from the power within him dims. “Once you put this on, you will…

Hail the Spirit Army

Ptah laughed.

The sun rose over what looked like the city of Cairo. The early morning light cleared the horizon and was bright and sharp, stinging the eyes with its searing, illuminating essence. The duskiness of night, suddenly evaporated in a single moment, stark and striking. The land had an alien presence as if it were someplace else, far removed from humanity, and in its way, it was. This was not Egypt of Earth, though it resembled it very closely. The markets slowly rising, people going about their tasks, farmers working the land, fishermen gathering their nets, weavers gathering their reeds, bureaucrats readying their papyrus, pharaohs discussing the affairs of this place, this Kemet, the perfect Egypt. This was the land of legend, of the thousand and one Arabian Nights, a place of mystery, populated by the spirits of men, lead by the god-born and protected…

Catch my interview with up and coming speculative/science fiction author Thaddeus Howze about his novel Hayward’s Reach, his collection of short fiction on his website Hubcity Blues, and the growth of cyberpunk and futurism among writers of the African Diaspora!